SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Minnesota Wild felt they had to win this game.

With two straight losses and just one win in their past four games ... and with road tests at the Chicago Blackhawks and Washington Capitals in their next two stops, there was a sense of desperation.

Good thing the Wild have Zach Parise, who scored the go-ahead goal with 5:07 left in the third period, leading Minnesota to a 7-4 win over the Florida Panthers on Friday night at the BB&T Center.

Wild coach Bruce Boudreau was so determined to win that he pulled goalie Darcy Kuemper with a 3-3 score after two periods, inserting normal starter Devan Dubnyk.

After the game, Boudreau compared goalies to baseball pitchers.

"I wanted to get this win as bad as any of them," Boudreau said. "If this was the World Series, and you have your best pitcher in the bullpen, you're going to use him."

With Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo injured, Florida had its best available in James Reimer, who stopped the initial shot by Jonas Brodin in Friday's key sequence. But the rebound came right to Parise for the easy tap-in and his 16th goal of the season.

Of the five goals allowed by Reimer, three were on rebounds and one was on a deflection. The last two goals were into an empty net in the final 70 seconds.

"There were a couple of rebounds we didn't clear quickly enough," said Panthers interim coach Tom Rowe, who stood up for Reimer despite his goalie allowing nine goals in his past two games.

Minnesota (43-17-6), which leads the Western Conference, had scored just five goals in its past four games. But the Wild broke out of their slump with two goals by Eric Staal and one each by Jason Zucker and Jason Pominville and empty-netters by Michael Granlund and Charlie Coyle.

Kuemper made 25 saves on 28 Florida shots. Dubnyk made 11 stops on 12 shots.

"You feel bad for Kuemper," Parise said. "I thought he made some good saves. Sometimes it's not about how the goalie is playing. The coach just looks for a little spark. (Kuemper) did a good job, and (Dubnyk) came in and shut the door."

It was a crucial loss for Florida (29-26-1), which is battling to get into playoff position in the Eastern Conference. The Panthers fell to 1-6-1 in their past eight games.

There was a silver lining for Florida, though. In the first game since Rowe changed all four of his forward lines, Florida's offense came alive.

The Panthers produced more than three goals in a game for the first time since Feb. 17, getting scores from Jonathan Marchessault, Mark Pysyk, Jaromir Jagr and Aleksander Barkov. For Jagr, it was career goal No. 762.

Three Panthers had two points each: Barkov and Pysyk, who each had a goal and an assist, and Vincent Trocheck, who had two assists.

Still, it wasn't enough.

"It's frustrating," said Pysyk, who had the first multi-point game of his Panthers career. "Tonight was a critical game. It could have gone either way."

After the teams battled to a 3-3 score through two periods, Barkov put Florida ahead 4-3 with 2:57 elapsed in the third. But Staal's second goal opened the floodgates for Minnesota.

Counting the empty-netters, Minnesota scored the game's final four goals, leaving Florida dejected.

"We always manage to find a way to not win hockey games," Marchessault said. "Obviously, there is something we're not doing right, especially me. It was a bad game defensively."

NOTES: Florida went 3-for-3 on its penalty kill and is 30-for-30 in its past 12 games. ... The Panthers are in the midst of a seven-game stretch in which they are playing five 40-plus-win teams. ... Panthers G Roberto Luongo (lower-body injury) may be out longer than expected. Luongo, who hasn't played since March 2, may be gone another week or two. ... Panthers LW Thomas Vanek played two seasons with the Wild, from 2014 to 2016, and this was his first game against Minnesota since his departure. The Wild, up against the salary cap, bought out the final year of Vanek's contract. ... Wild D Matt Dumba (illness) returned after missing two games. ... Wild D Christian Folin (upper body) is set to miss three weeks. ... Wild D Gustav Olofsson and C Jordan Schroeder were scratched. ... Florida scratched D Jakub Kindl, LW Shawn Thornton and C Michael Sgarbossa.